People v. Garcia

149 A.D.2d 241, 545 N.Y.S.2d 569, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11231
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided August 31, 1989·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Ross, J.

The issue presented to us on these appeals deals with whether the defendant was deprived of the effective assistance of a trial counsel.

Sometime after midnight on July 18, 1984, pursuant to information he had received from a private citizen, New York City Police Officer Joseph Clanton went to the rear courtyard of 1505 St. Nicholas Avenue, between 185th and 186th Streets, Manhattan, where he found the body of a person, later identified as Mr. Wilson Cabrera (Mr. Cabrera), lying in a pool of blood. A subsequent autopsy indicated that Mr. Cabrera’s death had been caused by a .38 caliber bullet to the brain.

During the following week, New York City Police Detective John Grunert (Detective Grunert) led a police team investigating Mr. Cabrera’s homicide. On July 24, 1984, in connection with this investigation, Detective Grunert sought a warrant to search defendant’s person and his room, for a loaded firearm. The room was located in a basement apartment, used as a brothel. In his affidavit, in support of the application for the search warrant, Detective Grunert stated, in pertinent part, that during the past week (note: July 18th through July 24th) he had several conversations with a woman, who he referred to in the affidavit by the name of "Jane Doe”. Ms. "Jane Doe” informed him that she worked as a prostitute in the subject [243]*243brothel, and she told him that the brothel operated from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.; the defendant, who was known to her by the nickname "Pedro”, occupied a room in the brothel, and was employed as the brothel’s bartender and bouncer. Inside the brothel, on the evening of July 20, 1984, and into the early morning hours of July 21, 1984, she observed "Pedro” in possession of a loaded firearm; and, when the brothel is open, the firearm is kept inside those premises. On the basis of the allegations contained in Detective Grunert’s affidavit, a New York City Criminal Court Judge issued a search warrant, dated July 24, 1984, which authorized the police to search the defendant’s person, and the subject basement apartment, for a loaded firearm. Thereafter, at approximately 3:00 A.M., on July 25, 1984, Detective Grunert, and a team of police officers, including Detective Richard Nieves (Detective Nieves), went to the basement apartment brothel to execute the search warrant.

Subsequent to entering the brothel, Detective Nieves, who had a detailed description of the defendant, was taken by one of the occupants to defendant’s room, and he knocked on that door. In his trial testimony Dectective Nieves stated that, as soon as defendant opened the door, he punched defendant in the face, which caused defendant to bleed. After striking defendant, Detective Nieves and another detective struggled with defendant for about 30 seconds, until they handcuffed him.

The police did not find a loaded firearm or other contraband on the person of the defendant, or in his room, or anywhere else in the brothel.

At approximately 4:30 a.m., the police transported defendant in handcuffs, along with Ms. Christina Gonzalez, Ms. Frances Armonte, Ms. Jackie Ayuso and Mr. Jose Jiminian, from the brothel to the 34th Police Precinct for interrogation. Ms. Gonzalez was the owner of the brothel, and Ms. Ayuso worked there as a prostitute.

In the precinct, defendant was placed alone in a room, while the police questioned Ms. Armonte, Ms. Ayuso and Mr. Jiminian. From those witnesses, the police learned that, while Ms. Ayuso used to be the victim’s girlfriend, she now had a relationship with the defendant, and Ms. Armonte stated Ms. Ayuso had told her that defendant had killed the victim. Following the obtaining of that information, police confronted defendant with the allegations against him.

[244]*244After being advised of his Miranda rights in Spanish, defendant agreed to speak to the police. Subsequently, during the interrogation, defendant confessed, in both oral and written statements, that he had shot the victim in the head. Later, defendant accompanied the police to the scene of the crime, and reenacted the details of the murder. Finally, defendant described the killing to an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) in a videotaped statement.

By indictment, filed August 9, 1984, a Grand Jury charged defendant with the crime of murder in the second degree. Following arraignment, defendant’s retained trial counsel moved for a pretrial Huntley hearing to suppress the incriminating statements defendant had made to law enforcement authorities, upon the principal grounds of police brutality, and the allegedly unlawful denial of the assistance of counsel to defendant, while he was being interrogated. At that hearing, the People, as well as the defense, presented evidence, and the court denied that motion.

Before the commencement of trial, trial counsel submitted a Sandoval motion, which the court granted in part, permitting the People to question defendant about one prior conviction, and not permitting any questions about a pending case.

During the trial, defendant testified in his own behalf. Thereafter, a jury found him guilty of murder in the second degree, and he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of from 25 years to life. Defendant appealed.

Subsequently, defendant moved to vacate the verdict, pursuant to CPL 440.10, on the ground that trial counsel had provided him with ineffective assistance of counsel, since he had never raised the issue of whether the police had probable cause to take defendant into custody at the brothel. Without holding a hearing, the trial court denied defendant’s motion, and by order dated November 25, 1986, we granted defendant leave to appeal.

Thereafter, while we held the appeal from the conviction in abeyance, we remanded the matter for a hearing on defendant’s CPL 440.10 motion. In our memorandum (People v Garcia, 137 AD2d 402, 406 [1st Dept 1988]), we stated, in pertinent part: "we find that Trial Term erred in denying defendant’s motion, without a hearing, since it is not clear from the record whether defense counsel’s failure to raise the issue of the legality of defendant’s arrest was due to ineffectiveness of counsel or trial strategy (People v Brown, 45 NY2d 852, 854 [1978])”.

[245]*245On the remand, the trial court held a hearing. At that hearing the People called the only witness, who was trial counsel, and he was thoroughly cross-examined by defendant’s new counsel.

Our examination of the transcript of this hearing indicates trial counsel testified, in substance, as follows:

Trial counsel stated he graduated in 1978 from law school, was admitted to practice in New York in 1979, and was subsequently admitted to practice in the Federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Thereafter, he testified his first professional employment was as an Assistant Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, where he spent slightly over three years, assigned to the Tort Division, when he left that office, he went into private practice, as a sole practitioner, his practice consisted of 90% criminal cases, he averaged three trials a month, and, as of the date of the remand hearing in April 1988, he had tried at least 100 cases before a jury.

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People v. Garcia, 149 A.D.2d 241, 545 N.Y.S.2d 569, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11231 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1989).

149 A.D.2d 241 (People v. Garcia) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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